bodice ripping
Passionate costume destruction
Bodice ripping describes passionate, often forceful romantic or sexual encounters in fiction—named for the dramatic tearing of women's clothing in such scenes.
The term usually modifies romance novels featuring historical settings, heaving bosoms, and ravishment: a bodice-ripping Regency romance, bodice-ripping passion.
The genre conventions have evolved, but the label persists, sometimes affectionately, sometimes dismissively.
- love storyNarrative of romantic involvement
- corsetsBoned, laced bodice garments
- torn fabricTextile with a rip
- romanceLove and its excitement
- yearningIntense prolonged craving
forbidden love · secret affair · fervor · damsel in distress · novel · rapture · Fabio · cover art · enticement · longing · historical romance · infatuation · swept away · Victorian era · Regency period · seduction · temptation · lust
bodice rippingcourtly love
Chivalric romantic ideal
hand-holding · celibacy · abstinence · stolen glances · love letters